The present invention relates generally to the field of systems for and methods of animal production. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems for and methods of optimizing animal production using empirical information feedback.
An animal production system may include any type of system or operation utilized in producing animals or animal based products. Examples may include farms, ranches, aquaculture farms, animal breeding facilities, etc. Animal production facilities may vary widely in scale, type of animal, location, production purpose, etc. However, almost all animal production facilities can benefit from identifying and implementing improvements to production efficiency. Improvements to production efficiency can include anything that results in increased production results, improved proportional output of desired products versus less desirable products (e.g. lean vs. fat), and/or decreased production costs.
A producer (i.e. a farmer, rancher, aquaculture specialist, etc.) generally benefits from maximizing the amount or quality of the product produced by an animal (e.g. gallons of milk, pounds of meat, quality of meat, amount of eggs, nutritional content of eggs produced, amount of work, hair/coat appearance/health status, etc.) while reducing the cost for the inputs associated with that production. Exemplary inputs may include animal feed, animal facilities, animal production equipment, labor, medicine, etc.
Animal feeds are compositions of a large variety of raw materials or ingredients. The ingredients can be selected to optimize the amount of any given nutrient or combination of nutrients in an animal feed product based upon the nutrient composition of the ingredients used.
Every variable input may further be associated with one or more effects of variation. For example, for almost every variable input, an increase in the amount of the variable input is associated with an increase in the cost of the variable input. In a specific example, constructing additional facilities may be associated with building costs, financing costs, maintenance costs, etc. Additionally, the increase in the amount of the variable input is associated with an increase in the benefit provided by the variable input. Returning to our earlier example, the construction of the additional facilities may be associated with an increase in the number of animals that may be produced at the facility, or an increase in the amount of space available for each animal that will increase the production of each animal, etc.
Theoretical models may be generated to provide performance projections based on variations in the variable input. These performance projections can be used to determine values for the variable input that will satisfy an optimization criteria. However, optimization results generated from models may differ from real world results. The results may differ based on special circumstances, imperfect models, using the wrong models, etc.
What is needed is a method and system for using empirical feedback to modify one or more variable inputs to an animal production system. What is further need is such a system and method configured to automatically adjust the variable input based on the empirical feedback. Yet further, what is needed is such a system and method configured to update one or more models used to generate the variable input.